Rule of Three
by Theresa Bernadette
Summary: Crash landing in a parallel universe is not always the best way to pick up new companions.


**Chapter One: The Warriors of Venus

* * *

**

It was a chilly, clear day in early October when it happened.

More importantly, it was a Friday.

Though in the English language, the word Friday comes from the Norse goddess Freya, in most romantic languages, the word Friday can be derived from the goddess Venus. Both Venus and Freya are known for being the goddesses of love and beauty. However, unlike Freya, Venus is actually a planet. The second planet from the Sun after Mercury, it orbits the Sun every two-hundred and twenty-four point seven Earth days. It is the closest to Earth in gravity and size and is the so called the 'sister planet' of the only planet in the solar system that could house life long enough for it to develop and start wondering whether or not any other planets could do the same.

But astrophysics are not the important thing about Friday. The more esoteric relation is. For Venus is the goddess of love and beauty, and Friday is a common date night. Couples flirt and swoon in restaurants and parks all over the world as people take a break from the everyday work and allow themselves to live in a fantasy contrived of hormones and wine.

Except three girls who found themselves rather dateless on Friday.

But for them, it was all par for the course. While other girls in their senior year of high school were out drinking and partying with boys, these three were preparing for their own little party in a living room with a large flat screen TV and a surround-sound stereo system and involving pop, chips and sci-fi, specifically a British classic known as 'Doctor Who'.

That was the plan.

It only took one moment of blonde ditziness to ruin it.

"Did you guys hear that?"

And here we go.

* * *

It was a horrible, gruelling uphill climb that no one appreciated, least of all Eliza. Whenever her mother didn't pick her up after school at the ferry terminal, she was forced to walk up in whatever she was wearing (as often floor length skirts as pants and wool coats as blazers) while carrying a bag that if it didn't have textbooks, all that space was filled with novels or history non-fiction. 'Happy' was not a good word to describe her at such times.

It didn't really work well for her friends who were walking up too.

Mina panted and glared up at her friend in the lead. "Couldn't your mom have at least left us a car or something?"

Behind her, Gwen pushed some of her dark hair behind an ear. "Yeah, that's a great idea. Which one of you would drive it? The one who's terrified of cars or the poster child for ADD?"

"That would be ADHD and I don't accept it as a proper mental disorder," declared Eliza,

"It is simply a way for mothers to pin the fact that they can't entirely control their child on the kid's brain rather than their own incompetence. And I just like chasing butterflies, okay?"

* * *

And so we meet our valiant heroines.

The motherly Mina, a straight-A student and probably the most cheerful person one could ever meet. She dressed like bohemian raver and was more than happy to occasionally wear a sign offering free hugs, as well she was once a pushover too nice to even fight back if someone hit her. Thanks to the combative influence of Gwen and Eliza, kick-boxing was now a martial art she was on her way to mastering, and they not only gave her two great bodyguards, but also her first pet and the first time she ever full out slapped someone when her fear spiders was taken advantage of.

Gwenevere wasn't the brightest of them but she was definitely the strongest, not to mention the best gamer. A proud addict of World of Warcraft, she had more friends online than both the other two combined, as well as being the best with animals (exception of hamsters for Mina and cats for Eliza). Before Mina and Eliza got close to her, she couldn't stand to be touched and was rather uptight, but the shining rays of Mina's friendliness and the bouncy eccentricism of Eliza loosened her up considerably.

And Eliza is probably the strangest human you'll ever meet. A petite blonde ball of contradictions, she can be both smart and spacey, bold yet cautious and quiet but loud in the space of ten minutes. Most of her life was spent as the shy weird girl in the back of the class, but between Gwen and Mina, she quickly became a perky girl who happily lent out her mass collection of books and had a tongue as sharp as the rapier she was learning to use, along with practicing the art of parkour and dressing like character out of Victorian sci-fi novel, complete with goggles.

The three of them combined were a force to be reckoned with.

* * *

The road to Eliza's house was a scenic one. First, should you lack a vehicle because your parents took off for the weekend, you walk up a path of evil from the ferry terminal that transports you to and from an island off the west coast of Canada to a smaller island off the coast of the original. The path is steep and greatly irritating, but offers great views of the ferry, the beach and the arbutus trees along it. All in all, not the worst place for a heinous climb.

Second, you reach the road lined with beautiful vacation houses for the rich, cozy homes for the people who lived on the island year-round and great Douglas firs reaching to the sky. The aesthetically appealing nature of the road is only broken by the irritating dogs that bark at you the _entire_ time you're going along it.

Third, you get to the best part. After a horrible climb and a rather 'peaceful' walk in the shade of the rich and large trees, you reach the road that leads to Eliza's home. It offers probably the best view on the island: a farm offering fresh produce with cows grazing in the fields on one side and a large meadow perfect for picnics and showing the glittering blue water of the sound between the islands as well a large mountain range that travelled

from one end of the island to the other.

In short, the perfect place for something absolutely dreadful to happen.

"Did you guys hear that?"

It begins.

* * *

Raising a dark eyebrow, Mina surveyed her friend sceptically. Though she was normally rather trusting, Eliza was always fond of getting them paranoid about something and such statements usually set off her 'I'm About to be Made a Fool' sense. "Hear what?"

The blonde tipped her head to the side, dark eyes staring into space. "There it is again. A sort of whooshing noise. Like the TARDIS."

Before Mina snap out how ridiculous that was, Gwen's body stiffened beside her. The taller gamer looked at the blonde in wonder. "I hear it too."

"Then why are we standing here? It's by the field!" The two of them took off, leaving their self-declared baby-sitter behind. Sighing, Mina picked up her pace to reach them, ready to offer a shoulder for them to cry on when their dreams of escaping from reality into a world filled with more adventures than you dream of were dashed again.

That was the plan.

It only took one blue box to ruin it.

"Ah, hello there! I seem to have fallen into the wrong universe... again..."

And one two-hearted alien to blow it all to Hell.

* * *

Tea is an interesting thing. Though the history of it is complex and lengthy, it is generally believed to have developed on Earth in southeast Asia, near the current day borders of India, Burma, China and Tibet. Eventually it travelled across lands and seas to become a common drink almost everywhere, though in many places it was eclipsed by coffee.

Mina and Gwen loved it.

Eliza could only stand it with a third of the cup being milk and nine sugar cubes.

And the Doctor? He'd already drank half the pot.

"Oh, that's great!" Lifting the cup up to his lips, the girls took in his appearance. Pants that looked like they'd seen a bit too much action, a red striped shirt, matching braces and bowtie (also in red), a tweed jacket and floppy hair.

It was either the Doctor or Matt Smith pulling a rather strange hoax. Gwen was pulling for the former, Mina for the latter and Eliza didn't care either way as long as that tweed jacket ended up in her closet.

Wiping his lips with a paper napkin, he smiled at them cheerfully. "So! Who are you, where am I and what's the problem?"

Glancing at each other in a rather unnerved manner, it was silently decided that Eliza should do the talking. It was her house, and she was probably the most likely to follow along with his technobabble. "I'm Eliza Skjold, this is Gwen Marino," she indicated her friends, "And this is Mina Ardy. You're in my house on Denman Island, on the west coast of Canada, and you said there was a problem?"

He nodded, still grinning at them. "Well, there's always a problem, problems follow me everywhere, this universe, my universe, Pete's world, everywhere, so, what's the problem?"

Leaning back, Eliza thought through all of the recent news she'd heard lately. Flooding in Pakistan (though she hoped most people were okay, she couldn't help but silently wish for it to take out a creeper that had once stalked Gwen over the internet), gay marriage allowed in California (three cheers for them!), the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (cancelling her father's retirement plans). Regrettably, she tended to get her news fifty to five hundred years late, and all the recent problems didn't really scream 'OH MY GOD ALIENS' to her.

"No problems, but I do have an alien sitting in my house drinking my tea." In all fairness, for most people that would be a problem.

His green eyes searched her own in suspicion and confusion. "No spaceships in the sky?"

"Nope."

"Weird earthquakes, maybe?"

"Not here."

"Any somewhat odd occurrences at all?" There was a twinge of desperation in voice.

The blonde pulled a face. "I'm getting a better grade than Mina in a class. Though, to be fair, it's only because I have a more polished writing style than her."

Throwing up his arms in disbelief, he leaned against the back of his chair with a loud thump. "Great. Just fantastic! The TARDIS falls into another dimension, the power is out in it so I can't get back, and I'm stuck on a little dull island where nothing interesting happens!"

"Hey!" Snapped Gwen, "Quit complaining! You're stuck here until you find a way to power up your blue box! _We're_ stuck here for way longer than that! I have crappy grades that won't get me into university, forcing me to find some boring job until I can afford to travel!"

Pouting, Mina crossed her tan arms. "Yeah! I have an overprotective mom who won't let me travel overseas and actually cries at the thought of me leaving home!"

On the edge of the couch where she was sitting, Eliza simply shrugged. "I make adventures out of whatever I'm doing. It's not dull if you go on a hike and pretend that you're discovering a magical world with evil gremlins out to get you behind every tree!" The whole group gave her an odd look. "Hey, if I didn't do that I probably would've offed myself or something. Thrown myself into the ocean in a totally over dramatic way."

Something about her words triggered something in Mina's mind. The ocean... what had her father said about the ocean lately? Something washing up on the beaches... If only she could remember... Glancing over at the Doctor, Eliza and Gwen, she gave them an irritable glance. Maybe if they weren't talking so loudly... Wait, what were they talking about?

"I have a TV show?" Asked the Doctor disbelievingly.

The nerdier girls smirked in a rather nefarious manner. "Oh yes, Doctor," Gwen drawled,

"We actually know about many of your adventures."

"And the fandom it's inspired!" Gushed Eliza, "Amazing fanart and fanfiction, the most FSTs past Harry Potter and Twilight, a whole lolcat forum, and the _porn_..."

The alien's jaw dropped and he stared at her in complete and utter horror. "P-porn!" He sputtered.

She nodded sagely. "Oh yes. Though I actually found it rather creepy and stopped at the first sign of 'wetness'-"

"Eliza!" Immediately, both Mina and Gwen leaned over to smack and-or punch the other girl.

Twitching, the Doctor shook his head. "Let's move past that, I'm going to need to fix my TARDIS and get out of here, and can I ask you three for help?"

They nodded. "We'd be happy to." Mina answered for the three of them.

Jumping to his feet, the bowtie wearing alien shot off to the kitchen, nearly tripping over a small black cat in the process. "Sorry, kitty!" Randomly opening and closing drawers and cupboards, he pulled out a rather random collection of assorted knick-knacks. "Now, do any of you know where I could possibly get an encapsulated osadillium core?" The blanks stares were enough of an answer. "Fine, I'll get it myself, then." Shoving half the objects into Gwen's hands, he turned towards the door.

Leaning down, Eliza glared at the Doctor, scooping up her cat and cuddling it as clung to her desperately. "Doctor, would you mind _not_ spooking my cat anymore than she already is? She's been really freaked out lately, and you're not helping!"

Whipping around, the Doctor gave her another odd look. "I thought you said nothing weird was happening."

Immediately Eliza was on the defensive. Nobody insinuated _anything_ about her cats. "Suki's easily scared! The dog still terrifies her, and we've nearly had him for a year!"

He walked forward and looked her dead in the eye. "Where's your dog? And your parents, where are they?"

"Nowhere weird. Dog's staying with my grandparents while my mom and Ric have a romantic weekend on the other coast."

"I see." Scooping Suki out of the blonde's arms despite protests from both, he stared into

the cats eyes, "What's the matter, Suki? Why are you so scared?"

Gwen nudged Mina and grinned. "Maybe a bowtie-wearing alien freaked Weird-Face out?" She whispered.

"Hey!" Said alien objected, "Bowties are cool." Passing the cat backed he frowned, "She's not too bright, couldn't tell me what's the matter, but there's something big and the other cats can tell what it is too..."

Cocking her head, Eliza had to agree (though not with stupid part – her precious baby was brilliant!). "Yeah, they've all been a little on edge, but we just figured it was the season change." An idea popped into her mind, "Do you want to talk to Peepers or Pip? They're the most cunning cats I've ever known. Actually, Pip's gone off for a day or two, so Peepers it is." Swooping into her parents room, she returned carrying a plump squalling black cat. "Ignore her whining – the princess hates to be woken up."

Holding the cat, he began to murmur to her, initially getting growls, hisses and obviously pissed off meows, but eventually they became quieter and more distinctly human-like. About three minutes later he put her down and trotted off in front of him. "Feel free to put those down," the Doctor told Gwen, "We're following Peepers. Apparently there's something weird down at the beach."

Quickly pulling on their shoes and boots, the girls followed him and the cat down the road until the cat disappeared into some bushes between a rather fancy house and one that resembled a green barn next to the huge field with the TARDIS right in the middle of it.

"How're supposed to get to the beach through there?" Gwen asked aloud, peeking through the leaves to see the cat watching them irritatedly.

Taking the lead, Eliza jutted into the yard with the green barn. "There's a trail down here that I use. It leads out towards the lighthouse."

"Why haven't we gone to the beach here before?" Demanded Mina, "I'd've liked to go swimming this summer!"

Her friend shuddered. "I had a run-in with a snake down here once. I hate snakes."

Before they continued down the trail, the Doctor paused to gaze at the blue object in the distance. Following his eyes, Mina patted him on the shoulder.

"We'll get it fixed up, Doctor."

He smiled down at her before turning around. "Alright, then!" Walking forward, he pointed to a second trail, "Where does that go?"

"Same place." Answered Eliza as she walked down the first one, "I just prefer this way. Less chance of snakes."

As they walked along, crunching the brown and orange leaves beneath their feet, Peepers jumped out of the ditch glowering reproachfully and flicking her tail as she led them down a set of rotting wooden stairs on the trail. They shortly made it to a small grassy clearing with the beach just beyond it. A quick tail flick and a meow from Peepers made them follow her only a few metres where another two cats were sitting patiently and watching them.

"Pip!" Eliza called out to the black one. It's eyes didn't even flicker, completely focused on the Doctor.

As they approached, the Siamese that had been with him padded off into the bush, Peepers taking it's place as the humans bent over the strange object that the cats had been guarding.

Forty million kilometres away, Venus blinked.

* * *

Trilobites are extinct. Once they were an incredibly common marine arthropods, they died in a mass extinction approximately two-hundred and fifty million years a go. Because of the numerous fossils that can be found around the world, humans were able to use them as a mold to make vague models of what they looked like without much detail.

Mina's icy-blue eyes travelled over the object. "It looks like a trilobite... but..."

"It has tentacles." Eliza finished for her, her face showing a mix of disgust and fascination.

Frowning, Gwen reached forward. "Whatever, it's just a fossil-"

"Don't touch it!" Ordered the Doctor, putting an arm out to block the girls off, "Now, let's see..." He pulled out the sonic screwdriver pointed it at the trilobite-like fossil, not noticing the total look of delight on Eliza's face when she saw the object. After running the light over it, he checked it and frowned. "Not good. Bad, actually. Very bad, in a not-so good way."

"That's wonderful. What is it?" Eliza knelt down beside him, "And why shouldn't we touch it?"

"Well, you can touch it, actually." Picking it up, he tossed between his hands, "It's nothing now, nothing but an ugly paperweight, but! Awhile go, it could've climbed under your skin and feasted on you from the inside out, presumably starting with your stomach and heading up from there."

Though Mina's face paled and she recoiled at the idea, Gwen and Eliza just nodded casually. "Like those things," Gwen commented, "From 'The Mummy'."

"Scarabs." Eliza informed them, "Apparently dung beetles eat people much like that thing."

Mina pulled herself a bit closer. "What were the tentacles for?"

"Presumably to latch on to you. See how they fall off?" Demonstrating, he picked one of the appendages off easily, "They drop it after burrowing into your skin."

Picking up the tentacle, Gwen frowned at him. "Okay, we know what it is, so where's it from?"

The Doctor paused solemnly before answering. "It's from Venus."

The girl's stared at him. "So? What's so bad about that?" Asked Gwen.

"Yeah, they can't harm us." Eliza pointed out, "The temperature on Venus is so extreme in comparison to ours that landing on Earth would instantly kill them. It's like throwing us onto the peak Mount Everest naked. They can't last."

Mina, however, realized that the Doctor's face indicated that bad things were happening. If her gut feeling was to be trusted, something terrible was about to occur.

"Yeah, Eliza's right, these can't survive on Earth, but that's not the point." The alien began pacing up and down worriedly, "See, these were grown on Venus and won't cause us any troubles here, but that's not the trouble, no, the trouble is that they are scouts. Not the invaders, but scouts."

Slumping her shoulders, Eliza frowned. "Oh joy. An alien invasion. Bloody brilliant."

"Exactly."

"Wait, wait, wait..." Waving her arms in the air, Gwen tried to catch up. "You mean, these are scouts for aliens on Venus to figure out what's happening here and maybe, if they get the chance, kill off the human race."

"That's about the gist of it, yeah."

Breathing heavily, Mina stared at the Doctor in a panic. "So, what do we do? How do we stop them?"

Walking up to her and Eliza, he put his arms around them. "You three, I reckon, ought to go home. I'll try and fix the TARDIS, fly to Venus, stop the attack and get back to my universe. Alright?" Letting go of them, he wandered back up the path, "It was nice meeting you! Enjoy your paperweight!"

The three looked at each other. "He doesn't honestly expect us to just let him go off and save the world by himself, does he?" Questioned Gwen, eyebrows raised in amusement.

"Shouldn't we just let him do that?" Mina asked worriedly, "We might get killed."

She was promptly given a light smack to the head. "Nope, nope!" Chirped Eliza, "It's adventure time now! Oy, Doctor! Wait for us!"

* * *

The Doctor liked having people around to help him out. It was a relief to push the menial jobs off onto others while he could focus on the more important part of saving the world. Of course, he still needed to direct them on how to set everything up, but it was better than having to do it all himself.

"Okay, Gwen, hook this up to that knob. Mina! I need you to go to one of the storage areas and find me a blue glowy tube, just head that way and go left twice, then right, atta girl! And Eliza-"

The blonde gasped in delight as she picked an object up from the pile. "The sproingy whisk! Ever since I was a child, I knew this was a great object! Now at last its come to its fruitation! Tell me, Doctor, what is it's use?"

The bowtie wearing alien just shrugged. "I dunno, I just grabbed it because it looked cool."

"Aww, damn..."

"Anyway!" He handed her an electric egg-beater, "Attach this to this!" He indicated a knob, "And turn it on as high as possible."

Racing in, Mina handed the Doctor the glowing tube. Thanking her, he plucked it from his hands and jumped down under the console, opening up a small chassis to plop it into. Once it was in, with Eliza's egg-beater, the TARDIS came back to life under their feet.

"So, wait, why did we just have all that drama about whether or not it would work when all it took was an egg-beater and a glowstick?" Mina asked Gwen as she pushed back her black hair.

"Shut up, that's how it works."

Leaping back up onto the clear floor, the Doctor quickly made it over to the console and began flipping switches around. "Alright. We have about eight hours of power. Eight hours to fly to Venus, save the world, bring you three back home and set off for my own universe. Think we can do it?"

There was another one of those 'the Doctor is such a silly glockenspiel!' looks passed around.

"Yup."

"Totally."

"Let's rock, bitches!"

With a grin, the Doctor glanced up as the TARDIS began to shake. "You better get something to hang onto!" He called out, as the famous vworping noise began.

Eliza and Mina latched onto the same handle. "What do you think we'll find?" Whispered Mina excitedly.

"My hope? Lesbian alien babes with the body of Seras Victoria and a distinct lack of clothing. But with my luck? Planet of Justin Biebers and bitches who'll mack on my Gwen."

With a loud thunk!, they landed.

The Doctor quickly strode over to the door, the girls following him, until he suddenly stopped and whirled around to face them.

"Okay, I needed your help to get the TARDIS running, but from now on, you three stay in here." He announced decisively, "I won't have anything happen to you. This is not my world, and I'm responsible for you all. Do you understand me?"

The three girls nodded solemnly and the Doctor smiled and left the TARDIS. Finally, companions who wouldn't go and cause major trouble!

Outside the door was a long, tube-like and glowing-red corridor with two pathways leading from the end of it. Quickly checking behind the blue phonebox, he deduced that he had managed to park her at a dead end with a clear wall of something that wasn't glass overlooking fields of rocky craters. Above those were clouds hovering high in the sky, blocking off all view of the universe above. Crouching down, he saw small pieces of metal almost looking like latches.

"Question."

The Doctor jumped and looked over his shoulder to see Mina and Gwen admiring the view and Eliza frowning at the corridor. "I thought you all agreed to stay in the TARDIS!"

"No, we said we understood." Gwen replied back in a smart-ass tone of voice, "We said nothing about agreeing."

"Umm, hello! Question!" Walking back up to them, Eliza narrowed her eyes at the Doctor, "Venus has ninety times more pressure on than Earth and it's temperature is at an average of four-hundred and fifty degrees Celsius day and night!"

"And your question is...?"

Sighing irritably, she indicated her body. "We're not dead! So what is this place and who are these aliens that require the same gravity and heat as us? And, oh yeah, oxygen?" She shook her head in almost disgust, "Ridiculously human aliens. How absurd."

Reaching over, Gwen gave her a quick punch to the arm. "Hey, those absurd aliens are keeping us alive right now, gooby."

"Not if they don't want to..." Whispered the Doctor as his eyes travelled down the corridor. The girls followed his gaze and exchanged looks of shock, amazement and stoicism.

Down the corridor were five creatures in armor.

They were red. And scaly. And their heads looked rather lizard-like. Later, Gwen would describe them as being resemblant of a 'thorny devil' after seeing one up close. But for now, they were just scary aliens on Venus out to kill them. After they demanded their names, of course. It was just common courtesy.

"Identify yourselves!" The lead one growled, pointing a rather large and menacing weapon at them, it's taloned finger on the trigger.

Glancing over at Eliza, Gwen leaned down to whisper in her ear. "What, aren't you going to complain that they even speak English?"

"Nope," answered back the blonde, "The TARDIS translates for you."

Once again, the leader brandished his weapon. "Identify yourselves!"

"Alright, alright, we'll identify ourselves." The Doctor stepped out in front of them and pulled out his psychic paper, flashing it at them, "I'm John Smith, head of the British National Space Centre and I'm here to negotiate on behalf of the humans. Behind me are my assistants. Now," he held his arms out, "Take me to your leader."

Instead, the aliens fired on them.

The Doctor tried to push the girls back towards the TARDIS, but he was the first one hit. Staring up drowsily at them, he watched Mina, Gwen and Eliza all get hit at the same time. Eliza was the first to fall, then Mina and finally Gwen. As she stared at him with wide eyes, he tried to explain that they were okay, it was just something to knock them unconscious, that's why Eliza went first, because she was the smallest and it worked faster, but the words came out garbled and he fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

In a strange space station on Venus, Eliza woke up first.

Snapping her eyes open, she glanced about quickly, her mind working overtime. Okay, she was in a strange room that had around eight of those aliens around as well as Gwen, Mina and the Doctor, unconscious and with their hands cuffed to the arms of their chairs, and one of those aliens was staring at her with a smirk on it's face, sitting across a table from her.

"So," it growled, "One of them has woken. The little light one."

Scowling at him, she judged her own shackles. Apparently the alien things hadn't realized that her wrists were significantly smaller than everyone else's and she would be able to easily slide them out. "'Little light one' is an odd thing to call me." Flipping back her long hair as best she could, she smirked cockily at the speaker, "My name's Eliza and I'm one of the human race. Care to give the same courtesy?"

Snorting and glaring, it addressed another of it's kind quietly. With a short nod, it walked off purposefully out a door into another corridor. Turning back to Eliza, the alien gave her condescending look. "Why are you awake?"

"Why shouldn't I be?" She snapped back.

"Because we pumped you all with enough hemoajith to keep you unconscious for six hours, and you're awake after only two! You're also the one who should've been out for the longest, since you were all given the same dose and your body is the smallest."

"Ohhh..." Nodding, she cocked head, "That explains your testiness. I'm just special. And, hey! I'm of average height for my gender and area! They're just taller than me is all!"

The alien pulled itself to it's feet and walked over to her, looming above like a shadowy tower. "Then you'll be the first to undergo the process."

Furrowing her eyebrows, the girl glared at him. "What 'process'?"

It laughed evilly, "The first human to be completely fully examined! We know why you humans have not succumbed to our gliborites, but now we will find out how to destroy with new biotechnology! Take her to the dissection lab!"

As two of the aliens grabbed her by the arms and dragged her out, she gave the Doctor one last fleeting look, hoping that maybe he'd wake up and make things right.

His head was still drooped as she was led out the door.

"Damn." She swore as she was taken to her death, "And I never even got to snog Miura Haruma."

* * *

It was a jolt that woke him up. A nice, not very pleasant electric buzz that ran up his body from his wrists that were cuffed to the chair. There was a semi-circle of the aliens standing behind one that was sitting across from them, all armed. To his left he saw Mina and Gwen waking up too, with a more pained look on their faces. But to his right...

An empty chair.

"Eliza..." he whispered before struggling against his bonds, "Eliza! Where's Eliza, what have you done with her?"

Another jolt of electricity ran up his body, this one more intense than the last, forcing a cry of pain out of lips.

"Doctor!" Squeaked Mina as she stared at him in horror, "Are you alright? And you freaks!" Suddenly her voice went vicious, "What the Hell have you done with my Eliza? If you've damaged a single cell on her body, I will single-handedly slaughter all of you!" On her other side, Gwen thrashed against the restrains until they electrocuted her too, sending her into unconsciousness.

Leaning back against his seat, the Doctor took their appearances in. "Alright, you lot, who are you? Why are you here?"

A chortle erupted from the throat of the sitting one. "The other girl was a bit more eloquent than you, did she say Doctor? Yes, thank you, Doctor, when she asked the same question."

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH HER?" Screamed Mina as she tried to lunge forward out of her chair.

"The same thing we'll be doing with you. Four hours ago, she woke up and was taken to be dissected to allow us to understand how you humans resisted our gliborites."

Paling, Mina slumped back in shock. Her Eliza, dissected? "No..." she whispered in disbelief, "It's not possible... No..."

A strange calmness overcame the Doctor. Strange because at this same time, he was entirely overwhelmed with rage. These aliens had murdered an innocent person just because they need to study it. Eliza, the one who adored her cats and sweet things, who understood what he would ramble on about…

They would pay.

"I don't know who or what you are, but I promise you, I will avenge her!" He hissed out.

Had it eyebrows, it would've raised them. "We are the Nibliorics. We've travelled from the outer edges of the universe and conquered every planet we've came across. 'Earth' is our next stop."

Glancing over, he saw Gwen stirring again and Mina still in shock. "'Nibliorics', eh? Never seen any of you before, back home you used to just scuttle away as soon as there was a suggestion that I was nearby. Of course, a good half of ya were destroyed by the humans in the fifty-eighth century when you landed on Geo-Core Eight, that was a bloodbath. On your side though, not the humans." For a moment he let that sink in, "They utterly destroyed you."

Apparently the leader had selective hearing. "We'd 'scuttle away' when we heard you were near?" The lizard-creature asked sceptically, "None of my people would do that. Who are you?"

"I am the Doctor." The Gallifreyan replied in a deadly calm voice, "I am the Oncoming Storm, the last Time Lord, the greatest threat to all threats in the universe. There is no way to stop me when you have made me angry and YOU! HAVE! MADE! ME! ANGRY!" Leaning down and biting on the collar of his jacket, he flipped it open hard enough to knock his sonic screwdriver onto his knee, which he jerked to send it up to his hand. Pointing it his cuffs, he unlocked them and jumped to his feet.

"Fire!" The Niblioric leader ordered its troops.

Before they could even lift their weapons, the Doctor turned the sonic on the guns, causing sparks to fly out and crash the power. Quickly, he focused it on the shackles of the other two girls, pulling the still traumatized Mina up while Gwen followed, asking what was wrong with Mina, and what had happened in there and where was Eliza?

After turning down a few corridors, the Doctor stopped. There was still no TARDIS in sight, and he needed to at least protect these two. He'd failed with one of them, but he could still get Mina and Gwen home. "They aren't following us..." He observed, looking behind them, "Why not?"

"You blew up their guns, they probably need more," answered Gwen, "But come on, where's Eliza? What's happened?"

Tears leaked out of Mina's eyes. "Eliza's dead," she whispered, "They killed her."

Gwen stared at her friend sceptically. "Are you feeling alright? You actually think they killed Eliza?"

"SHE'S DEAD!" Shouted the sobbing girl, "They said they dissected her!"

Confused, the Doctor stared at Gwen. "What makes you think she isn't?"

"Well, duh!" The dark haired girl rolled her eyes, "It's Eliza! The best fast-talker I know. No doubt she confused them and ran off somewhere to hide. Probably back in the blue box already." She sniffed derisively, "Gnomes aren't known for their bravery."

"Shut up, gnomey nose."

Spinning around to their left, they saw Eliza's head peaking out of a doorway. "Well, come on, we've only got two hours. Actually," reaching into her vest pocket, she pulled out a pocket-watch, "One hour and forty-eight minutes. Come on!" Disappearing back in the doorway, she left the two confused and distraught people and the amused Gwen to follow her in.

The room they were entering was a medical lab room. It was rather dark and appeared to be dirtier than the normal sterilized hospital wards back home. There were about four steel tables, three covered in papers and pieces of technology and one cleared off for the dissection. Two guards stood on either side of the door and there was one Niblioric sitting at the table, eyeing them with great interest.

"Doctor, Mina, Gwen, this is Fn'glar, the Niblioric of science on this station." Eliza introduced them, "Fn'glar, likewise."

Standing up, it bowed it's head to them. "A pleasure. I have never actually seen so many humans up close!" Gently, he picked Mina's hand and examined it. "I would very much like to dissect you and see what you are like on the inside, but my discussion with Eliza is enlightening enough that I can wait."

"That's... good..." Answered Mina nervously.

"Yes, and she's been quite kind enough to answer my questions about Earth!" Fn'glar perked up, "Your atmosphere is absolutely amazing! How you can survive in such cold temperatures... It's nothing short of astounding, especially with such thin skin! No wonder our gliborites froze up."

Plopping herself down on one of the tables, Eliza explained. "Fn'glar and I have been having an excellent discussion on everything that's been going on. Did you know that they actually grew the gliborites out of the rock out there? That's why they fossilized in our temperatures." Giddily, she clapped her hands, "They also have a thing in them that allows the Nibliorics to call it back, even when it's killed. It's how they figured out that Earth was too cold for them to invade eight-hundred years ago!"

Nodding along, the scientist elaborated. "Because it was too cold for us to immediately attack, we built these stations to adjust our bodies to the Earth's habitat."

"It's not just this station, this is just the final one!" Eliza picked up a piece of something that looked like paper, but was thicker and the lines on it weren't drawn in pencil, but in some strange glowing material, "There's another four hundred of them, all with different stages of adaptation! It's brilliant! They've become ridiculously human aliens! Isn't that awesome?"

The Doctor leaned in to study the paper. "Oh, that's genius! Forced evolutionary adaptation so they'll be perfectly adapted to the Earth's atmosphere! How many more are there?"

Shrugging and cocking her head, Eliza reeled off the numbers. "About fifty thousand have died during the process out of four-hundred thousand."

"So... around three-hundred and fifty thousand?"

"Yes, but only eleven have made it to this stage. The rest are in the last seventy. About fifty years from being ready to take the Earth."

"Oh, good, but we only have another hour and a half or so." Pulling back, the Doctor glanced over at Fn'glar, "You said you were waiting to dissect us?"

The scientist nodded his head. "Oh yes. While you are fascinating to speak to, I must do my best for our master race. It's only inevitable that we take over your planet, and we'll need you all out of the way as quickly as possible."

Reaching over, Eliza pulled on Mina's sleeve excitedly. "They believe in 'manifest destiny'!"

"Oh my God, like in 1812!"

"Yeah!"

Glancing over at Gwen, the Doctor lifted his eyebrows indicating the guards and winked. "Well, of course, it's only natural. But the humans will put up a fight. They have guns, you know. Really useful, non-stunning guns." Again, he lifted his eyebrows at the guards. Getting the hint, Gwen made herself seem as if she was just wandering around the lab while getting herself closer to the guards.

Fn'glar looked somewhat offended. "Our guns have more settings than just stun! We simply needed you alive for the dissection!"

"Of course, of course, but the humans, they're fighters too, and have massive weapons that could destroy you!" The Doctor explained, "It might be best for you to move on to a different planet."

In an instant, Fn'glar was at his feet and in the Doctor's face. "Another planet? We have spent eight-hundred years preparing and you want us to go to another planet? We can't even set foot on this one anymore because of the adaptations we've made!"

Raising his eyebrows, the Doctor nodded. "I see, I see. Well, we'll be off then."

"Off where?" The Niblioric was clearly confused.

Walking towards the door where Gwen was standing next to guard, he paused and glanced over his shoulder. "To stop you all of course. Gwen!" At the same time, they both grabbed the guns out of the guards hands and shot them. Checking to see if they were on stun, the Doctor nodded to himself and used in Fn'glar, who slumped to the ground after being hit. "Mina, Eliza, grab those papers." As the other girls collected them up, Gwen and the Doctor glanced out the door.

"Alright, here's the thing," he told them, "We need to make it back to the control room. Eliza, Mina, you two go find the TARDIS and stay in there because we're going to be running like the wind soon. Gwen, we're going to send these things back to the fires."

Pondering the plan for a moment, the girls nodded. They split up at the intersection – Eliza dragging Mina off one way (claiming that it was the way her special sense told her to go) and the Doctor and Gwen heading back towards the room they woke up in.

Wandering down the corridors, Mina had to question Eliza's sense of direction. "Are you sure we're going the right way?" She asked her friend repeatedly.

Her answer was always an irritated look and a testy 'yes' as Eliza led them around another turn. Before she could ask for ninth time, Eliza pulled back and put a hand over Mina's lips before they both peeked around the corner.

Five of the Nibliorics were kneeling in front of the TARDIS, facing it with their guns ready, just in case anything were to come out of it. Pulling away and moving a few feet back, the two humans discussed what they could do.

"One of us distracts it while the other one gets inside with the papers?" Was Eliza's idea, but Mina shot it down, shaking her head vigorously.

"No way. After the scare I had, thinking you were dead, we stick together. I only let Gwen go because she was armed and with the Doctor." Tapping her finger against her chin, she considered another idea, "Why don't we just run in?"

The blonde blinked. "Eh?"

With little gestures, Mina continued on. "They're standing pretty close to it. If we sneak up quietly on them and get really close to them, we just bolt, we should be able to make it in and lock the doors before they can shoot."

Eliza gasped. "But the chances of that are a million to one!"

Her friend looked at her strangely. "I think it's a bit better than that."

Rolling her eyes, Eliza just muttered something about Terry Pratchett and glanced around the corner again. Seeing them all still there, she nodded to Mina and they quietly approached them.

They crept closer and closer as silently as possible. The guards seemed a little on edge and occasionally squirmed, clanking their armor a bit, allowing Eliza and Mina to time their steps to that movement and cover up the sounds of their feet.

Eventually, they got close enough that the girls could count each scale on the bodies of the Niblioric guards. Glancing at each other, they nodded and began to mouth numbers.

Three...

Two...

One!

And in a flash they had made it into the TARDIS, leaving the five aliens outside significantly bemused.

Panting nervously they looked at each other nervously. "That was easy-ish." Eliza grinned as Mina locked the door, "I'll stay here. You keep an eye on the screen and tell me when the other two get here." Outside, the Nibliorics began pounding on the door. "Go!"

* * *

A short while away, the Doctor and Gwen were just outside the control room of the station. As they prepared themselves, Gwen couldn't hold back cracking a smirk while hoisting up the gun. The Doctor cast her an odd look. "What're you so happy about."

Tossing back her hair, she grinned at him. "I'm on Venus with an alien about to take on more aliens to save Earth from a threat that will attack in fifty years. This is awesome!"

"Good to see you're cheerful. Is it set to stun?"

She patted the gun affectionately. "Yup. No killing today. But I'm taking this baby home and naming her 'Vera'."

"I don't think so..." As he adjusted the weapon, he gave her a brief nod, "So, shall we go and save the world?" With that, they spun around the corner, guns high and into the control room.

The empty control room.

Glancing about at all the screens and buttons, Gwen looked about in suspicion. In movies, they would have about two and a half minutes before the bad guys returned and tried to stop them. Though in the movies the bad guys never succeed, this was real life and anything could happen. The Doctor crossed the room to one of the consoles and held up the sonic screwdriver to it, pulling up the details of the station.

Pocketing the screwdriver, he nodded to himself. "Right. Now, all I need to do is find out how to break those latches, preferably on a timer so we can escape to the TARDIS before we get pulled out to the atmosphere."

"I'm afraid, Doctor, that won't happen."

Slowly, both of the heroes turned around. The leader of the Nibliorics entered the room with two of the soldiers flanking him, each holding a new gun. "And if you try and pull out the metal wand, we'll shoot both you and the girl."

Raising his hands in surrender, the Doctor faced them with a cheerful smile. "Why, hello there! Just checking your system, seeing if it all works out-"

"Shut up!" Ordered the Niblioric, "There is no longer any reason to keep you alive. We have your box surrounded and your females almost certainly captured. No one is coming to save you, Doctor."

* * *

By then, Eliza had boredly wandered up to the console where Mina was. "There's a phrase I love."

An eyebrow was raised as Mina glanced away from the screen. "Ah, the master of non sequiturs returns. Tell us, oh great one, what tidbit of wisdom shall you bestow upon us today?"

The blonde hushed her with a wave of her pale hand before continuing on. "The phrase 'almost certainly'. It's one of those ones where if you say it, everything gets fucked up."

Almost the instant that she said that, the image of the soldiers banging and firing on the door flickered and showed something new. The Doctor and Gwen were standing in the control room, hands raised and guns on the floor while the main man was holding them at gun point. From the looks of it, they were all screwed. The brunette stared at the screen in horror while the blonde began to frown a bit.

"Damn it. Does this mean we aren't getting home in time to watch the Seventh Doctor?"

Faster than a rattlesnake, Mina's hand collided with the back of Eliza's head. "Your best friend and the guy you have a thing for are being held at gun-point and all you're going to do is crack jokes?"

"Really, Mina, I barely know the Doctor well enough to consider him my best friend - STOP CHOKING ME JOKES MAKE ME FEEL BETTER - GLAARGH-!"

Before either of them could continue on, a soft sliding noise attracted their eyes to the console. Wriggling out of the iron grip, Eliza dashed over to the console, eyes shining with anticipation. Just as she thought, the TARDIS had given them something to help save the Doctor and Gwen.

Picking up a slender object, Eliza grinned maniacally at her friend, holding it up and pointing it in the other's direction, switching on a purple light. "A sonic screwdriver. Lets go kick some ass."

Mina flashed back a matching smirk, but it quickly dissolved into a pout. "Gwen gets a gun, you get a sonic screwdriver - what about me?" Quickly, she was pulled along by Eliza towards the door.

Reaching it, Eliza prepared herself and the object. "I dunno. Check the wardrobe. Maybe you can have an awesome scarf."

With that, she threw open the doors.

* * *

It was very boring to wait for your demise, Gwen decided.

All that time sitting around and contemplating life when much more important things could be being done. Things like kicking ass on World of Warcraft, pwning n00bs on World of Warcraft, and corpse camping anyone who called her a pervy thirty-two year old man, when she was very obviously a beautiful young woman.

Beside her, strapped back into the chair with the sonic screwdriver lying five feet away on the table. The Doctor tried to come up with a plan. It was a bit difficult and currently contrived of being able to talk his way out of this whole mess, but it was a work in progress! There was still some hope. Like maybe Rose could come and save them, or maybe even Donna, or Sarah Jane, even _Jack_, or one of his old selves. Or next selves. Really, there were far too many of him to be able to keep up.

Meanwhile, the Niblioric leader had picked up the screwdriver and was rolling it between his talons contemplatively. It had hacked into his systems and easily destroyed his weapons - perhaps he could keep it for himself? Placing it gently back onto the table, he smirked at his captives, trapped in the control room that he had personally locked to the outside world, keeping his two guards outside in case any of the others returned and needed to enter. He was now the one holding all the cards.

"There's no escape for you, is there?" He asked the captured Earthling and Gallifreyan snidely. "Your comrades have been captured, much as you have, and we will be ready in fifty years to completely overtake your planet. What do you say to that, hm?"

Rolling her eyes, Gwen muttered a few indistinct words about his mother and a gnome and the Doctor narrowed his eyes.

Ignoring them, the alien continued on. "You know, Doctor, you had said something before about being the 'last of the Time Lords', hmm?" Abruptly he stood up and prowled towards his addressee. "How strange. There are still hundreds of you out there, but they don't bother with us." Leaning down, he whispered into the Doctor's ear, "So why are you so different?"

The Doctor didn't answer. Smirking, the antagonizer moved on to his next victim. "And what of you, girl?" He growled, "Your friends are doomed, much like yourself. Here you are, all alone except for one helpless Time Lord.

"Who will save you now?"

On cue, the door burst open.

A triumphant looking Eliza and a smirking Mina entered, flanked on both sides by a Niblioric holding a gun. Behind them, three others dragged away the now unarmed and dead door guards. The only way those two could've looked cockier was if they were also followed by a dragon, a troop of ninja monkeys and Vlad the Impaler, but they would take what they could get.

Mina jabbed her finger at the shocked leader. "Let them go right now!"

"That's right!" Eliza chimed in, holding up the new sonic screwdriver, "Or my boys here will take you down."

The leader's eyes bulged in disbelief. "Those are my men!" He squalled, "What are they doing?"

The blonde grinned wickedly. "I am Eliza, the prettiest princess north of Victoria, and I can bitch anyone I want!"

"They work for us now," added in Mina before snapping out an order, "Men! Free our friends. Please." She put in as an afterthought.

The Nibliorics nodded their assent and moved forward, two working to release Gwen and the Doctor while another two picked up the confiscated guns and the last locked their former leader into another of the chairs. Leaping up the Doctor moved to inspect the new screwdriver. Eliza hesitantly put it into his hands. Holding up, he grinned at the workmanship.

"Very nice, yes, the TARDIS gave this to you?"

With a pout, she nodded. "Probably figured it was the best way for us to help you. Ah, Doctor?" A charming grin replaced the pout, "Is there something the matter with your own?"

Reaching over to grab his, the Time Lord ran it through a couple of quick tests. "Nope, nothing seems to be the matter, why?"

"Awesome!" She grabbed the new one out of his hand, "Finders keepers!"

Approaching them in a militaristic manner, one of the Nibliorics approached them and tapped his horn in salute. "M'lady, everything is prepared as you wished."

Nodding, Eliza thanked him before turning to the Doctor. "Time for you to pre-emptively save the world."

While the two of them moved over to the control room console, Mina clutched Gwen tightly in her arms. Between being captured, losing Eliza, finding Eliza, almost losing Gwen and taking over a small troop of alien warriors, she was on the verge of a mental breakdown. Thankfully, Gwen understood and hugged her back, also feeling grateful. But over her shoulder, Mina could see how Eliza and the Doctor were working together and uneasy feeling settled in her gut.

Eliza wasn't likely to be going home with them.

"Gwen," she whispered as the two broke apart, "Do you think Eliza will stay with the Doctor?"

Her friend gave her a strange look. "Aren't you?" Over Mina's stutter of a reply, she continued on, "I mean, there's no way Eliza's going to leave being in a time machine, and I don't have any reason to just stay at home, besides WoW, so what the Hell? What about you?"

Mina chose not to answer. Instead, she watched the Doctor and Eliza rush towards them, telling them all to get back to the TARDIS.

They left behind the leader, still trapped in the chair, screaming.

As they ran along, the Time Lord, the humans and the soldiers, the Doctor explained his plan. The 'windows' had latches on them so that when the scouts returned, they could enter easily without damaging anything. Before one of the windows was opened, all doors to the area would be sealed. The Doctor, however, had over-ridden the systems so that in a few minutes, when every window on every station would open, nothing would seal, roasting the entire place with Venus' heat.

Finally, they made it back to the TARDIS, but a new obstacle stood in their way.

Fn'glar and his guards had woken up.

Instantly, the guards fired on them. The Doctor pushed down the girls while their own soldiers quickly felled the other ones, but with two casualties. Glowering at them, Fn'glar, pulled out a vial of some strange, spiralling gas and held it out in front of them.

"If you come any closer, or if you shoot me," the scientist threatened, "I will release this gas into the air and kill us all!"

Gwen just walked up and plucked it out of his hand before nailing him with kick to the head. "Well, that was easy!" She said perkily, "Lets go!"

The travellers and last three Nibliorics raced into the blue box, Gwen and Mina stopping by the door to look in confusion at the vial, before Mina simply snatched it and chucked it back into the corridor, slamming the door shut behind her. Up on the platform, the soldiers stared at the room in wonder while Eliza glumly sat down on a chair, knowing that those soldiers had died for them.

One of the Nibliorics, named Grnn, approached the Doctor. "What will happen to us now?" He asked, "Our people are about to die, and we've escaped. Shall we stay in the service of our lady?"

Mina rolled her blue eyes and sat next to the blonde. "Did you need to get them to call you their lady?"

"Oy," snapped back Eliza, brightness returning to her eyes, "Let me have my fun. And," she addressed the Nibliorics, "You are free to do what you like, so long as it doesn't involve taking over planets and senselessly murdering people."

"I could take you to a new planet in my universe," the Doctor offered, jabbing at different objects on the console, "I could even take you to those Nibliorics."

As Grrn and the others nodded, preferring that plan, the TARDIS launched and settled in the field back on Denman.

Turning towards the girls, the Doctor nodded at them. "I suppose this will be good-bye, then."

All three glanced each other. "Actually, Doctor, do you think you could wait about twenty minutes?" Queried Mina with a smile, "We promise you, no more than that."

Though he looked at them suspiciously, the Doctor nodded. "Twenty minutes, then I leave with the Nibliorics."

The girls grinned and raced out of the TARDIS.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, they re-appeared at the door of the blue box, Mina and Gwen carrying their weekend bags and Eliza with a large piece of luggage (completely stuffed) and a bag of shoes.

"No." The Doctor declared decisively, "Absolutely not. You three are not coming with me."

Gwen shoved him aside as they entered. "I beg to differ, Doctor."

The Time Lord stared at them. "You won't be able to come back," he told them, "Once we go through, the gates to this world will be completely shut. There is no way you'll get through! Everything and everyone you know and love will be locked from you forever!"

Whirling around and dropping her bags near the Niblioric soldiers, Eliza glared him. "Yeah, we know, we talked about it while going up to the house. And you know what, Doctor?" She crossed her arms, "We decided that it was worth it."

"Your parents-"

"Agreed." She informed him, "We called them all up at the house and told them what we were going to do, and they all agreed that this was probably our only chance to have a proper adventure before growing up."

His eyes narrowed at her. "They did not."

Next to her friends, Mina rolled her eyes. "Okay, we're paraphrasing, but past my parents that was practically it!"

"Times running out, Doctor, and we aren't leaving." Gwen smiled, "C'mon! Let's see your universe!"

"The Whoniverse." Eliza corrected.

Giving up, the Doctor began readying the TARDIS for the jump between dimensions. "Alright, fine, but you three will do everything I say and stay out of trouble, do you understand me?"

He decided to ignore their scoffs and giggles behind him.

"Here we go." He murmured and headed for home.

It was a chilly, clear day in October when Old Man Piercy watched the strange blue box in the field across from his farm disappear.

Not far away, a woman wondered whether or not her daughter had been pulling a prank on her.

Across the water, two parents stared at each other, knowing that their daughter may never come back.

Closer to the mountains, a man thought with some envy that his daughter was going to be able to see things he'd only dreamed of seeing, while his young step-daughter complained about the unfairness of the situation.

On the other side of the mountains, a mother glanced over at her cellphone and felt a tug in her chest as she realized that her daughter must be gone.

One blonde moment of ditziness.

One blue box.

One two hearted alien.

It's adventure time!


End file.
